Elon Musk may now be the world’s first trillionaire, with today’s record-breaking IPO, priced at $135 per share, raising $75 billion and achieving a historic $1.77 trillion valuation. According to Forbes, his net worth before trading opened today was $982.6 billion.

The IPO serves as both the financial engine and the demand driver for “Terafab,” his recently announced $55 billion semiconductor venture, which he hopes will provide high-end silicon for SpaceX ambitions. “Orbital Data Centers” will require millions of chips, which is why, on the eve of his IPO, Musk held a private, virtual fireside chat with ASML CEO Christophe Fouquet to pitch his vision of producing 100 billion to 200 billion chips/year.

Musk cannot feasibly produce 2-nanometer chips in the United States without the help of Netherlands-based ASML, as it’s the only company in the world with EUV lithography machines (each of which costs about $400 million). Though today’s IPO could inject as much as $75 billion into Musk’s sphere, the cost of starting from scratch would perhaps be too much for even a trillionaire. The estimates of how much it would cost to build his Terafab facility range between $55 billion to $119 billion. And not much is known about the cost to build what he says will be 1 million Starlink-mounted space-based data centers, which some say could require as many as 70 million – 100 million AI chips (to bypass the latency of earth-to-orbit transmission).

Though some analysts, and AI leaders like Sam Altman consider Musk’s orbital ambitions as “ridiculous for. now” in terms of production, scale, and lack of staffing and experience, Musk has managed to secure landmark deals with Google and Anthropic.

As of publishing, ASML and Elon Musk were said to be actively negotiating a supplier relationship and collaborating framework, but a formal contract has not yet been signed. ASML’s CEO Christophe Fouquet confirmed discussions, but nothing beyond that has taken place.

For now, Musk will celebrate the IPO milestone, this morning virtually ringing the bell at the Nasdaq, and telling his SpaceX employees, “It is hard to believe that a little company that started in a warehouse in El Segundo is going public in the largest IPO ever. If people had told me this was going to happen, I’d be like, you must be smoking some really good crack. I gave SpaceX less than a 10% chance of succeeding at all.”

Corning’s fiber optics in AI : Agreements with Meta, Nvidia, and Amazon underscore Corning’s role as a supplier of optical connectivity technologies, with co-packaged optics and near-packaged optics deemed “areas of opportunity.”

ASML criticizes EU Chips Act : ASML is Europe’s most valuable company, and CEO Christophe Fouquet’s took aim at the EU’s Chips Act, particularly the move from subsidy-led capacity building to a framework for supply-chain coordination.

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Musk pitches ASML: Before today’s SpaceX IPO, Elon Musk engaged with ASML leadership, an indicator he is trying to lock down the machinery component needed to produce what he says will be Terafab’s 100-200 billion AI chips/year.

Would AI leaders ‘share wealth’?: At NYT’s “Hard Fork Live” event, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said one way to fight growing backlash against AI is for AI leaders to “share their wealth” with everyday Americans, an idea originated by VT Senator Bernie Sanders.

Seattle becomes biggest city to halt DCs: The Seattle City Council, with support from Mayor Katie Wilson, will update zoning and create a 1-year moratorium on data centers that demand more than 20 Megavolt-amperes of electricity within city limits.

Opposition to DC near TN Zoo: Country music star Brad Paisley and other Tennessee residents said more than 3,000 animals would be exposed to noise, fumes and bright lights if DC Blox’s 70,000 sq.ft. DC is built near the Nashville Zoo.

Anthropic Fable controversy: Anthropic apologized for throttling its new AI model, Claude Fable 5, part of its Mythos class of AI systems, with hidden guardrails meant to safeguard against “high-risk” queries that are “dangerous to the public.”

Anthropic $47B ‘run rate’: Amid AI “price war” fears, Anthropic’s revenue run-rate – the amount it would generate if current demand persists over the next year – has reached $47 billion, with growing momentum in the enterprise market.